Monthly Archives: February 2017

How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? (Romans 10:14).

I live in a gated community of 25 homes.

This little neighborhood is surrounded by a high fence and entered through a gate which requires either a remote sensor or a code. Homeowners pay a monthly fee to cover upkeep on the grounds and streets and a few services. We rarely see anyone in this little ghetto other than residents and service people.

Therein lies the metaphor.

At Christmastime, as Bertha and I were placing decorations on the outside of the home, I mentioned that since we live in a cove–a tiny cul-de-sac among five other homes–almost no one will see the wreaths and lights and greenery. “We will see it,” she said. And I agreed. That, I expect, is why most people erect a Christmas tree in the first place. For themselves.

Churches do this, to their shame. They do programs and ministries which no one will ever partake of except themselves. They plan elaborate pageants and oratorios and cantatas and wild game suppers and marriage retreats, and then fail to tell anyone other than the immediate family.

Then they wonder why so many pews went unfilled and the response to their evangelistic invitations was so tiny.

“A certain man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.’ And he divided his wealth between them. And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, where he squandered his estate with loose living….” (Luke 15:11ff.)

The story of the prodigal son in Luke 15 is iconic. That means it is typical, well-known, an accurate depiction of a thousand things about this life. Understand that story and you know a great deal about how life works and what God does.

If you knew nothing more about God than how He is depicted in this parable, you would love him with all your heart.

You and I are represented by the foolish, younger son.

That son, the subject of a few million sermons and the inspiration of almost as many conversions, received a lot of surprises in this story…

One. He was surprised that the father granted his selfish request. Some lessons we just have to learn for ourselves, and the Father was a good teacher.

A news article on how to avoid buying a lemon when purchasing a car caught my eye. It gave the usual stuff such as reading the information on the window sticker, checking the maintenance record, studying the interior, the exterior, the tires, etc.

The thought occurred to me that there should be some equally dependable methods for churches to use in verifying the reliability of the new pastor they are considering. Veteran workers in the Lord’s vineyard all have their stories of churches that acted too hastily, of committees that did not do their background work or leaders who made a pastoral choice due to pressure from some strong individual, and the church paid a severe price for their errors.

There should be some foolproof way to guarantee that the new pastor is everything he claims to be and all the committee hopes and promises he is.

Most of us would not include those excesses in a list of which to be wary. But for most, I imagine the list might look more like this…

(the first ten)

One. We should not be in love with the sound of our own voice.

The preacher who delights too much with his own voice will outtalk everyone in the room and drone on far longer in sermons than is wise. Better we learn to tame that critter, then put him to use in the service of the Lord.

Two. We should beware of loving those extra desserts.

More and more these days, the overweight preacher is the norm. Sometimes the culprit is that he announced from the pulpit his favorite dessert to be lemon icebox pie or banana pudding, and now well-meaning church members keep him supplied. Sometimes, it’s the church dinners where ladies bring a dozen or more home-made desserts that would tempt a saint.

Most of what follows about leading God’s church is counter-intuitive. Which is to say, it’s not what one might expect.

In no particular order….

One. Bigness is overrated.

“It doesn’t matter to the Lord whether He saves by the few or the many” (I Samuel 14:6).

Most pastors, it would appear, have wanted to lead big churches, wanted to grow their church to be huge, or wanted to move to a large church. Their motives may be pure; judging motives is outside my skill set. But pastoring a big church can be the hardest thing you will ever try, and far less satisfying than you would ever think.

Small churches can be healthy too; behold the hummingbird or the honeybee.

Jesus said to His disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest that He would send forth laborers into the harvest.’ And the disciples said, ‘Why? What do we get out of it, Lord?'” (Matthew 9:37-38 with a small insertion by moi to make the point.)

“Behold,” Jesus said, “I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves…. But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to the courts, and scourge you in their synagogues, and you shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.” And the disciples said, “Let’s skip that part and get to the part where you reward us.” (Matthew 10:16ff with my insertion. The part about rewards comes in the last verse of the chapter.)

Jesus told the disciples of John the Baptist, “Go and report what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear. The dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.” And the Lord’s disciples said, “Okay, enough about these losers, already. Tell us about the blessings you have for us. Who gets to sit on your right and who on your left?” (Matthew 11:3ff, with my tongue-in-cheek foolishness.)

I was reading one church’s minutes from a century ago. In a business meeting, the clerk told of a request for ten dollars from a new church in Texas. This was back when ten dollars was two hundred. After voting to send the money, the secretary said, “This spirit of generosity was put to the test when someone pointed out the church fellowship hall needed renovating.” As I recall, they ended up spending $2,000 on that project.

“What’s in it for us? ” is the prevailing principle of decision-making for too many churches. Denominational leaders and professional fund-raisers know that to be successful in their promotions, they have to convince churches that this project will reap great rewards for them personally. It’s not enough to do something for the kingdom.

It’s not sufficient to do something to please God, honor Christ, or obey the Spirit.

“But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).

We are loved. We are winners.

“I’m me and that’s good. Cause God don’t make no junk.” –from a poster by a child in a ghetto. (source unknown)

The man said, “I think my wife’s health problems go back to something in her childhood, as to how she was treated. She seems to have trouble accepting who she is in Christ.”

It’s always fascinating to consider what gives us our identity. And what conditions robbed us of the same.

“Smart Aleck” is the biography of Alexander Woollcott, drama critic for the New York Times a long time ago. Published in 1976, the book has been gathering dust in my library waiting for me to get to it. I started a few days ago. Woollcott is said to have been a master wordsmith, which is what made me order the book in the first place.